by Natalie Calzetoni & 13WHAM Staff
Tue, April 9th 2024 at 6:58 PM
Employees at Sunnking, an electronics recycling company in Brockport, will get the day off for the upcoming April 8 total solar eclipse. (Photo by Paul Giovine/WHAM, Monday, March 18, 2024)
Rochester, N.Y. (WHAM) — The 2024 total solar eclipse has come and gone – but if you still have your eclipse glasses, there are a few things you can do with them so they don’t go to waste.
The basket sitting in the garden center ofBroccolo Tree and Lawn Care is filling up fast. Brandon King says it’s a drop-off site for anyone willing to donate their eclipse glasses.
“This morning, we picked up about 80 already,” King said.
Rotary District 7120, which covers the Rochester-Finger Lakes region, wants to send them halfway across the globe.
BACKGROUND: Bright Spot: Recycling eclipse glasses to help others
“Ultimate destination will be in South America to go to school groups for their next eclipse event,” King said. “Over a million glasses ordered in Monroe County alone, so there is going to be so much waste and hopefully they can put them to use.”
Paola Viera from Sunnking says if you don’t donate your eclipse glasses, make sure they don’t end up in a landfill.
“A good portion of it is cardboard so it is reusable and can be made into other items,” Viera said.
She’s encouraging people to drop them off at either Sunnking’s Brockport location or the Monroe County Ecopark.
“So we won’t recycle them in-house, but we will get them to the right place,” Viera said. “We have downstream vendors who will recycle different forms of cardboard to be made and reused into boxes, probably for more electronics.”
Viera says there’s even an added benefit.
“With Earth Day coming up we want to promote reuse and recycling,” Viera said. “And anyone that comes to our location to drop off eclipse glasses will get 15% off on our eBay stores.”
The Rochester Museum and Science Center is also collecting eclipse glasses to recycle.
Rotary District 7120 will be collecting eclipse glasses during its conference in Saratoga Springs on Friday, April 26 through Sunday, April 28.
You can also mail them directly to:
Eclipse Glasses USA, LLC
PO Box 50571
Provo, UT, 84605
CLICK HERE for more of 13WHAM’s total solar eclipse coverage.